Hooper door actuating mechanism and auxiliary lock

ABSTRACT

A railway hopper car includes a hopper construction provided with a pair of motor actuated discharge gates pivotally supported for swinging movement from a closed position of V-shaped configuration to a spread apart gravity discharge position. In the closed position lower terminal edges of the gates respectively overlap and are moved to and retained in this position by a power actuated linkage arrangement. An auxiliary lock or latch is provided which includes a keeper pivotally connected to one of the doors and includes finges and supporting surfaces disposed in V-shaped relation and in the closed position of the doors support and lock the terminal edges against the possibility of accidental opening.

United States Patent [191 Shaver Jan. 8, 1974 William R. Shaver, Hammond, Ind.

[73] Assignee: Pullman Incorporated, Chicago, Ill. 22 Filed: Feb. 4, 1972 i [21] Appl. No.: 223,424

[75] Inventor:

[52] ILLS. Cl 105/251, 105/240, 105/290,

Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran Attorneyl-Iilmond O. Vogel et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A railway hopper car includes a hopper construction provided with a pair of motor actuated discharge gates pivotally supported for swinging movement from a closed position of V-shaped configuration to a spread apart gravity discharge position. In the closed position lower terminal edges of the gates respectively overlap and are moved to and retained in this position by a power actgated linkage arrangement. An auxiliary lock or latch is providedwhichincludgs a keeper pivotally connected to one of the doors and includes finges and supporting surfaces disposed in V-shaped relation and in the closed position of the doors support and lock the terminal edges against the possibility of accidental opening.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED JAN 8 I 74 SHEU 1 BF 2 ll-IOOPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM AND A AUXILIARY LOCK CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION US. Pat. No. 3,596,608, dated Aug.3. l97l, Hopper Door Actuating Mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention pertains to the field of railway hopper cars and particularly to a gravity discharge arrangement comprising a plurality of swingable doors for discharging material through the bottom discharge opening of a hopper car.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art as described in the above referenced patent discloses a gravity discharge arrangement for discharging materials from the hopper of a railway hopper car. conventionally, such an arrangement will include a pair of doors which are disposed in closed position in relatively V-shaped configuration and are hinged at their upper ends to transversely spaced portions of a hopper car. In the aforementioned disclosure the doors are firmly held in a closed position by overcenter links which are'actuated by means of a longitudinally extending thrust member suitably connected to a source of power. During longitudinal movement in one direction of the thrust member the links are moved from the, overcenter position whereupon the weight of the materials within the hopper force the doors open which drop by gravity to their open position and whereby materials are discharged. The present invention pertains to an auxiliary lock arrangement for assuring the maintenance of the doors in their closed position during train operation of the hopper cars.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the prime object of the present invention to provide an improvedauxiliary lock for maintaining a pair of gravity discharge doors in a locked position and to supplement locking action afforded by an overcenter locking linkage which also serves to return the doors to their locked position.

BRlEF DESCRIPTION OF THE, DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view-of a railway hopper car disclosing longitudinally disposed gravity discharge doors regulating the discharge of materialsfrom hoppers-on the car FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view through lower terminal edges of a pair of discharge gates or doors including auxiliary lock means; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention is applied to a railway hopper car of substantially similar design as that disclosed in the above referenced patent. The railway hopper car 10 includes an underframe 11 which supports a body 12 in turn supported on conventional wheel trucks 13. I

Specifically, the underframe 11 includes a center sill 14 extending generally the length of the railway hopper car 10. The hopper-car 10 alsoincludes a plurality of hoppers 15 which are longitudinally spaced along the length of the car and are also disposed on opposite sides of the center sill 14, as disclosed in FIG. 2.

Only one hopper is described since like door arrangement and actuating means therefor may be adapted for door pivotally connected at 21 for swinging movement to a side sill 22. An inner door 23 is pivotally connected as indicated at 24 for swinging movement to the center sill 14. The doors for each hopper may be actuated by means of upright levers 25 pivotally supported on brackets 26, as described in more detail in the aforementioned reference. As best shown in FIG. 1, such pivoted levers 25 are provided at opposite ends of each pair of doors and these are moved by means of an actuating bar 27 pivotally connected to the upper ends of the levers 25 and also being connected to a suitable fluid actuator 28.

As best shown in FIG. 2, each lever 25 is adapted to actuate doors for hopper openings disposed on opposite sides of the center sill 14. Acutating links 29 have ball and socket connections with lower ends of the levers 25 as indicated at 30. The other ends of the links 29 are also provided with ball and socket connections to the underneath sides of the door 23 as indicated at 31. As more specifically described in the aforementioned referenced disclosure, movement of the levers 25 to a first pivoted position moves the door 23 to the closed and locked position as shown in FIG. 2. Movement of the levers 25 in an opposite direction releases the links from their overcenter relation and thus permits the door 23 and the door 22 to drop by gravity to the open position shown in the dotted lines of FIG. 2.

Actuation of the door 20 is accomplished by means of a linkage mechanism generally designated at 32. The linkage mechanism 32includes a bell crank lever 33 pivotally connected at 34 to each of the ends 16 of the hopper. An L-shaped link 35 is pivotally connected as indicated at 37 at each of the opposite ends of the door 23. The upper ends of the links are suitably connected to the bell crank-levers 33 by means of pivotal connections 36. Straight links 38 are pivotally connected at 39- to the bell crank levers 33 and are connected at other ends to pivotal connections 40 provided at opposite ends of the door 20.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 3, the lower edges of each of the doors 20 and 23 will now be described. The door 23 comprises a relatively flat terminal edge 41 which at opposite ends of the doors is provided with slots 42. A channel shaped bracket 43 extending longitudinally is suitably connected to the underneath side of the terminal edge 41 for suitably reinforcing the same. The door 20 is also provided with a terminal edge 44 having an outwardly bent flange 45 which is adapted to engage and is in the same plane as the flat terminal edge 41. The channel shaped reinforcing member 46 includes flanges 47 and 48, the latter being suitably connected to the flange 45 and the flange 47 being suitably secured to. the underneath side of the terminal edge 44.

An auxiliary lock arrangement 49 is provided at longitudinally opposite ends of each pair of doors as best disclosed in FIG. 1. Each auxiliary lock 49 is disposed between plates 50 and 51, as best shown in FIG. 4, which are attached to longitudinally spaced ends 52 of the channel shaped bracket 43. Thelock arrangement 49 includes a keeper element 53. The keeper element 53 as best shown in FIG. 3 is provided with a'flat edge 54 which in the position shown is in engagement with the lower surface of the outwardly bent flange 45. Another supporting edge 55 on the keeper element 53 is disposed in relatively angular relation with respect to flat edge 54 and is in engagement with the outer surface of a wall 46 connected to the flanges 47 and 48 of the bracket 46. The supporting edge 55 is provided on a finger 56 integral with another finger 57 which pro vides the supporting edge 54. The keeper element 53 includes a bore 58 through which a pin 59 extends, the said pin 59 also extending, as best shown in FIG. 4, through plates 51 and 52 and being supported thereon. Cotter pins 61 are disposed outwardly of washers 60 on the pin 59 and maintain the assembly in place so that the keeper element 53 can pivot with respect to the pin 59. The amount of pivotal movement of the keeper element 53 is limited by means of a stop 62 secured to the plates 50 and 51. The keeper element includes a stop edge 63 which engages the stop 62 after slight pivotal movement. The amount of pivotal movement that the keeper element 53 may assume is disclosed in the full line and dotted line positions shown in FIG. 3.

THE OPERATION The operation of the doors of the present hopper car is more specifically described in the above referenced patent. Briefly, actuation of the levers 25 in one direction provides for movement of the balljoint linkage elements 29 from an overcenter position whereupon the weight of the material in the hopper against the door 23 moves the door downwardly which in turn by virtue of the linkage mechanism 32 opens the other door 20 which is also moved downwardly by gravity forces thus discharging material through the discharge opening 19. In thepresent railway car four of such hoppers and mechanisms therefor are provided. Closing of the doors of course results when the levers 25 are pivoted in another direction which thereupon moves the door 23 into the position shown in FIG. 2, the linkage 32 also providing for movement of the door 20 into its closed position. By moving the ball joint linkages 29 to an overcenter position the doors are effectively closed and locked.

During transit operation the forces resulting from the weight of the material within the hopper exert a heavy load tending to open the doors 20 and 23. The terminal edges of the doors are in overlapping relation and in order to assist in the retention of the terminal edges in their overlapping relation, the auxiliary locks are provided at longitudinally spaced points of the hopper doors. These auxiliary locks 53 essentially provide against relative lateral movement of the terminal edges 41 and 44 so that they will be retained in their maximum overlapping position shown in FIG. 3 despite the heavy forces tending to separate the lower edges of the doors. This is achieved by the auxiliary lock since when the lock is positioned in the full line position of FIG. 3, it is obvious that the surfaces 55 and 54 of the auxiliary lock or keeper 53 prevent any possible separation of the terminal edges.

In order to accommodate dimensional variations or tolerances in the doors, the keeper elements 53 are pivotally supported so that they may move in a limited fashion, as determined by the stop 62 in relation to the stop 63 to vary between the full line and dotted line position shown in FIG. 3 when the doors are lowered to their open position. As the doors are again returned to the position shown in FIG. 3 the keeper element 53 may pivot slightly to-accommodate for the dimensional differences which might exist between the terminal edges of each door so that when the keeper element is in position, the edges 55 and 54 are securely engaged with the adjacent flange 48 andwall 46' and thereby effectively support the lower edges of the doors against their being displaced from interengaging relation.

Thus, it is believed that a novel auxiliary lock mechanism has been disclosed which is simple in design and in operation and effectively provides a failsafe securing of the doors despite the weight of the material within the hoppers which tends to provide for separation of the lower edges or terminal edges of the doors.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hopper construction including interconnected laterally spaced opposed side and end walls forming a hopper having a discharge opening through which material is discharged,

a closure gate arrangement including first and second gates respectively hingedly connected adjacent first ends to opposed walls for swinging movement from a closed position over said discharge opening downwardly to an open position,

said first gate having a first flat terminal edge,

said second gate having a second flat terminal edge in the closed position of said gates lying upon and in overlapping relation being supported by said first terminal edge, and actuating means for hingedly opening and closing said gates,

the improvement of a lock for maintaining said gates in said closed position comprising: 1 a keeper element supported on said first gate below said terminal edges,

said keeper element having a supporting surface engaging said second edge, and

a finger on said keeper element projecting laterally outwardly with respect to said first terminal edge and also engaging said second terminal edge to retain said terminal edges in said engaging position, and

said gates and said terminal edges being disposed in said closed position in relative sloping V-shaped configuration,

said supporting surface and finger being disposed in relatively V-shaped configurationand conforming to said configuration of said gates.

2. The invention in accordance with claim 1, includ mg means pivotally connecting said keeper element to said first gate.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 2, said pivotal connecting means including stop means limiting the pivotal movement of said keeper element.

. 4. The invention in accordnace with claim 1, includmg:

means connecting said keeper element to said first gate for limiting pivotal movement, said first terminal edge including aslot,

said supporting surface of said keeper element being disposed in said slot during engagement of said supporting surface with said second edge. 

1. In a hopper construction including interconnected laterally spaced opposed side and end walls forming a hopper having a discharge opening through which material is discharged, a closure gate arrangement including first and second gates respectively hingedly connected adjacent first ends to opposed walls for swinging movement from a closed position over said discharge opening downwardly to an open position, said first gate having a first flat terminal edge, said second gate having a second flat terminal edge in the closed position of said gates lying upon and in overlapping relation being supported by said first terminal edge, and actuating means for hingedly opening and closing said gates, the improvement of a lock for maintaining said gates in said closed position comprising: a keeper element supported on said first gate below said terminal edges, said keeper element having a supporting surface engaging said second edge, and a finger on said keeper element projecting laterally outwardly with respect to said first terminal edge and also engaging said second terminal edge to retain said terminal edges in said engaging position, and said gates and said terminal edges being disposed in said closed position in relative sloping V-shaped configuration, said supporting surface and finger being disposed in relatively V-shaped configuration and conforming to said configuration of said gates.
 2. The invention in accordance with claim 1, including means pivotally connecting said keeper element to said first gate.
 3. The invention in accordance with claim 2, said pivotal connecting means including stop means limiting the pivotal movement of said keeper element.
 4. The invention in accordnace with claim 1, including: means connecting said keeper element to said first gate for limiting pivotal movement, said first terminal edge including a slot, said supporting surface of said keeper element being disposed in said slot during engagement of said supporting surface with said second edge. 